October31,2017

bating a new nuclear arms race.”

Numerous national security officials have pointed out the need for an accurate long-term cost assessment of U.S. nuclear modernization plans:

"Starting in 2021, between 2021 and 2035, it's about $18 billion a year to reconstitute and recapitalize our strategic nuclear deterrent … If that comes out of our conventional forces that will be very, very, very problematic for us. … So, rather than talk about the bow wave, there is future fiscal risk that the country, Congress and future administrations and this administration must come to grips with … Because as soon as we have a better understanding of that, we'll know for sure that our defense strategy is on the right track."

- Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work, February 9, 2016

“We do have a problem in the budget, and that problem is called the recapitalization of the triad.”

“After the end of that period, as we start to actually produce the systems I talked about, we're going to have an affordability problem that we have to deal with … In 2021, we're gonna start to have a problem finding ways to afford these systems. We will work to do that. It's a very high priority and we will work to do that, but it is gonna be a challenge for us.”

“This recapitalization will involve substantial outlays over the coming decades, and the merits of some aspects of this expensive recapitalization can be debated. Recapitalization of all three legs of the nuclear Triad with associated weapons could cost between $600 billion and $1 trillion over a thirty year period, the costs of which would likely come at the expense of needed improvements in conventional forces.”

"The strategic deterrent fund could be moderately useful to the department, but our real issue is not the fund but funding. … The fund may have some authorities or acquisition tools that could come with it that could provide some modest savings, and that would be fine. But the real question is do we have the resources to do that modernization additive to the rest of the requirements of the department, or will we have to squeeze out other high priorities, and those will be the national decisions that have to be made in coming years."

- Jamie Morin, Director of the Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE), March 18, 2016